The Daily Beast published – then swiftly deleted – a story this weekend with allegations that Donald Trump has been recruited as a KGB asset since 1987 and was given the codename “Krasnov,” citing a social media post by a former Soviet intelligence officer.
The story, by TDB freelancer Isabel Van Brugen, was posted sometime Friday and deleted on Saturday, according to the Internet Wayback Machine and a person with inside knowledge of the publication who confirmed its authenticity to TheWrap.
The deleted story’s only source was a Thursday post on Facebook by Alnur Mussayev, a former Kazakh intelligence chief. Mussayev writes that he served in the KGB’s Moscow-based 6th Directorate in 1987, when the agency was emphasizing “the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries … It was that year that our administration recruited a 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald Trump under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov.’”
Mussayev did not specify that Trump actively or knowingly participated in any espionage activities or provide examples, only that he was recruited and, in The Daily Beast’s own since-spiked flourish, “brought into the fold.” Trump has long denied the ongoing rumor of close ties with the KGB and now-Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The Daily Beast story did not cite any additional sources or reporting, though it said it had reached out to the White House and Russia’s foreign ministry for comment. Representatives for The Daily Beast did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
TDB did nod to a lack of material evidence in a closing paragraph that states: “Mussayev’s allegations, while unfounded, add to ongoing speculation about Trump’s connections to Russia. Trump’s first visit to Moscow as a real estate developer in 1987 drew intense scrutiny and speculation that the trip was arranged by the KGB for dubious reasons.”
